


The Changing Times

by inklings



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Friendship/Love, Harry Potter Next Generation, Hogwarts, Next-Gen, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-25
Updated: 2014-11-25
Packaged: 2018-02-26 22:43:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2669117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inklings/pseuds/inklings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>'The first time that Rose Weasley sets eyes on Scorpius Malfoy, it’s accompanied by a warning from her father. He claps a heavy hand on her shoulder and whispers, “Stay away from that one at school, eh? You can never trust a Malfoy.”'</p>
<p>Glimpses into Rose and Scorpius' developing relationship over the years.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Changing Times

The first time that Rose Weasley sets eyes on Scorpius Malfoy, it’s accompanied by a warning from her father. He claps a heavy hand on her shoulder and whispers, “Stay away from that one at school, eh? You can never trust a Malfoy.”

Her father is a silly, loving man. He tosses Hugo in the air and pretends to be a house elf for hours on end, just to irritate her mum. If he thinks that the Malfoys are untrustworthy, then there must be something terribly wrong with the small, nervous-looking boy standing on the platform. She hugs her father and promises that she won’t befriend the boy at all. In fact, she won’t even talk to him.

When they arrive at Hogwarts, Rose finds herself sorted into the same house as Scorpius Malfoy. Still, she makes a point to stay away from him. He does the same, regarding her with a wary gaze from across the Ravenclaw Common Room, or sitting at the opposite end of the dining table during meals. She observes that he doesn’t seem all that scary or mean—in fact, he’s quiet and keeps to himself, and doesn’t lash out when some of the other students make unkind remarks about his last name—but still, she stays away.

When she goes home for the summer hols after her first year, Rose passes him in the train corridor.

“Sorry,” he says quietly, pressing his body against the wall and looking down at his feet as he waits for her to pass. Rose has the peculiar sense that he’s afraid of _her._

“Thanks,” she mumbles. Only later does she realize that those are the only words they’ve exchanged all year.

\--------------------

Second year Potions throws Rose a curveball when she finds herself paired with Malfoy in class. The problem is that Rose is a daydreamer—she likes to stare out the window and imagine the sheer amount of magic vibrating through the blades of grass on the Hogwarts grounds. The other problem is that Scorpius is a Malfoy, and most of the other students avoid being associated with him in any way. So when Rose snaps to in class and realizes that Professor Patil has ordered them all to find partners, only Scorpius is left.

He sidles up to her—just a nervous, skinny boy who chews on his lower lip—and sets his book bag down. Rose turns to him and scowls, and he looks down at his hands.

They work on their potion in silence, and Rose grudgingly admits to herself that Scorpius isn’t the worst partner she could have ended up with. He’s loads smarter than Camilla Goyle, who she was paired with last year. He works quietly and efficiently, and only speaks when he asks her to hand over an ingredient.

Halfway through the class, he looks up and clears his throat. “I’m sorry you have to work with me,” he says, looking entirely miserable. “I know I’m the last person you’d… I mean, the last person _anyone_ would want to be paired with.”

Something in his expression reminds Rose of the many cats that her mum is always rescuing and bringing home. She thinks back to the last year, and can’t remember a single time when she saw Scorpius in a group of friends, or hanging out with the rest of the students in the Common Room. She always assumed that he was too stuck-up, but now she thinks that maybe the other students haven’t been all that welcoming towards him. The Malfoy name, she realizes, has made him a pariah in the same way that the Weasley name has made her the house mascot. They’ve both been forced into roles that they don’t necessarily want to play.

She remembers what her mum always says about being extra nice to those who need it the most, and gives Scorpius her sunniest smile. “Don’t be silly. You’re one of the smartest students in our class. I’m glad we’re paired together,” she says. “In fact, we should partner in Charms, too. That way, it’ll be easier for us to study together outside of class.”

His mouth actually falls open and he seems bewildered and a little bit terrified—as though he’s walking into some sort of cruel trap. But when Rose’s encouraging look doesn’t waver, Scorpius gives her a shy smile of his own and nods.

“Sure,” he says. “I’d like that.”

And so they become friends.

\--------------------

Rose has a temper and Scorpius is stubborn and over the next four years, they have plenty of fights. In their third year, Scorpius says that Rose’s wooly sweater looks like a dead Kneazle, and she doesn’t speak to him for three weeks. In their fourth year, Rose takes issue with the way that Scorpius sometimes chews with his mouth open, and they end up furiously throwing pies at each other from across the dining table (and landing a detention together, of course). In their fifth year, Rose jokingly calls Scorpius a ferret (something from a story that her father always tells), and he storms out of the room, telling her that he’s more than his family name, and _she_ of all people should know that.  

But somehow, they remain friends through it all. Best friends, even.

In their sixth year, when Rose is asked to Hogsmeade by Grant Finnegan, the ridiculously good-looking Gryffindor Quidditch captain, she runs to the library to find Scorpius. She’s practically bursting with excitement when she tells him the news, but he hardly reacts—he just keeps staring down at the book on the table.

“But you always go to Hogsmeade with me,” he finally says.

“Well, yeah,” she replies impatiently, rolling her eyes. He has completely missed the point. “You’re my best mate. But Grant asked me out on a _date_! Can you believe it, Scorp? Of all the girls at Hogwarts, he asked me.”

“Don’t get too excited,” Scorpius mutters, his tone dark. “He goes through girls like your mum goes through books.”

Rose feels anger rise inside of her chest, hot and white. How dare Scorpius try to take this away from her—the excitement of her very first date—when she’s always supported him? And to say that she’s just another one of Grant’s passing fancies… well, that’s just _offensive_.

“You’re a right prat, you know that, Malfoy?” she hisses, leaning over the table so that her face is mere inches away from his. He flinches back. “How can you… how can you talk like I’m just another _slag_ to Grant?”

Scorpius looks stricken and tries to stand up from the table. “Wait… Rose, that’s not what I meant…” he stumbles over his words, but she’s already barreling out of the library, her ponytail flying behind her like an open flame.

When she’s gone, Scorpius buries his face in his hands and groans. “Fuck,” he mutters to himself.

\--------------------

Grant turns out to be a complete arse on the date.

He calls Rose an uptight prude when she won’t let him feel her up, which Scorpius learns from the other Ravenclaw girls. They whisper that Rose went up to the dormitory right after the date and has refused to leave her bed for the remainder of the day. Scorpius resists the urge to run straight to Gryffindor Tower and challenge Grant to a duel, but only because he can’t think of anyone who would agree to be his second besides Rose.

The next morning, he wakes up early and goes down to the kitchen. Then, Scorpius begs Jennifer Turpin to let him up to the girls’ dormitory.

“I just want to see Rose,” he says. “I promise I won’t cause any trouble.”

She wrinkles her nose at him, and then looks down at the tray in his hands and sighs. “Alright, then.”

Scorpius follows her up to the girls’ dormitory and past the rows of canopied beds. Jennifer points out the one on the very end, and Scorpius walks up to it with a knot in his stomach. He tentatively draws the curtain to find Rose already sitting up against her pillows.

When she sees him, she just scowls and crosses her arms over her chest. “Did you come here to rub in the fact that you were right?” she asks, her tone steely. “Going to tell me what an idiot I am for getting all excited about… about…”

Her eyes are unnaturally bright and shiny, and she’s blinking rapidly. Scorpius realizes with a jolt of panic that she might cry, and he already has no idea what he’s doing. And so he sets the tray down onto her lap with a clatter and rushes to explain.

“I wasn’t going to say anything like that,” he says. “I just came to bring you breakfast. I figured you’d be hungry, since you missed dinner last night.”

She stares at the tray on her lap—heavy with berry pasties (her favorite) and a mug of hot tea made just the way she likes it—and immediately bursts into tears.

“I’m sorry!” Scorpius exclaims, sitting down next to her so that he can awkwardly pat her arm and hand over a box of tissues. “What did I do wrong? Did you want coffee instead? I can run back down to the kitchen now…”

But he trails off, because Rose is shaking her head so hard that she looks like a rag doll. Before he can say anything eyes, she’s thrown her arms around his neck and pulled him in for a suffocatingly tight hug.

“Thank you,” she mumbles into his shoulder. “I don’t know what I’d do without you, Scorp.”

Scorpius feels rather warm and dizzy with Rose’s scent enveloping him, and the fact that her wet cheek is pressed against his neck. He’s thankful, not for the first time, that Rose cannot read his thoughts.

\--------------------

“You’re being awfully quiet,” Scorpius says, nudging Rose on the shoulder during the train ride home after their sixth year. “That’s usually my job.”

She flashes him a quick smile and a shrug, but can’t bring herself to say anything else. The truth is, Rose is afraid that if she opens her mouth, she won’t be able to stop herself from saying something incriminating, like, _“Yeah, I’m excited for the summer hols, but right now I can’t stop thinking about what it’d be like to snog you,”_ or, _“Hey Scorp, do you reckon we should go to Diagon Alley to get school supplies together? Except this time, let’s hold hands and stare at each other soppily, yeah?”_

She hates that these thoughts have invaded her mind. When did she become so pathetic? And why does it have to be Scorpius of all people? For Merlin’s sake, he’s her _best mate._

He gives her a look to let her know that she hasn’t fooled him in the least. “I know something’s wrong, Rose,” he says. “You’ve been acting weird for weeks now. Are you giving me the silent treatment or something?”

“No,” she quickly reassures him, although her mind can’t help but flash back to the image of him leaning over Emily Thomas’ desk to “help” her with a Transfiguration assignment, and the way that Emily lowered her lashes and giggled demurely at him. “I’m not mad at you. I was just thinking…” and before she can stop herself, the words tumble out of her mouth, “... I was just thinking about how you’ve been tutoring Emily a lot.”

“She said she needed the help,” Scorpius replies, shrugging. “Why?”

“I don’t know,” Rose says, and her cheeks are burning furiously now. Damn those Weasley genes. Her face probably looks like a ripe tomato, which is not attractive. “I was just wondering if there was some other reason, you know. For the tutoring. Like maybe you fancied her or something.”

Inwardly she curses and promises to herself that she won’t say another word for the rest of the trip. Rose pulls a random textbook out of her bag and opens it on her lap, ducking her head so that she can pretend to read while hidden behind a curtain of her hair.

But after a beat of silence, she feels Scorpius’ fingers reach up to gently tuck her hair behind her ear. Rose shivers at his touch, and when she finds the courage to look up, she sees Scorpius’ intent, gray eyes just inches away from her own.

“Rose, are you blushing?” he asks, but there’s no trace of the usual playfulness in his voice. He just sounds curious. “Were you acting odd because you thought I fancied Emily?”

She is completely mortified, but there’s no use in denying it. Scorpius is her best friend, and he’s able to see through any lie that she tells. And so even though her mouth is dry with dread and embarrassment, Rose nods.

“I was jealous," she admits, her heart thudding painfully in her chest.

For a moment, Scorpius just looks shocked, and she wonders when that look will turn to disgust… or worse yet, pity. But instead, he brings his hands up to cup her face and leans down to press his lips to hers in a soft, fleeting kiss—no harder than a breeze brushing against bare skin on a summer’s night.

“Rose,” he whispers into her ear, and the yearning in his voice tells her everything.

\--------------------

Three years later, Rose walks into her office at the D.M.L.E. and finds a small wrapped package lying on her desk. She frowns and performs all the mail-checking spells required. After all, when you work in law enforcement, you need to follow protocol.

The package doesn’t light up with any of the warning signs, and so Rose shrugs and tears it open. Inside is a small box, and when she opens it, a single key falls out along with a scrap of parchment paper.

_Rose,_

_Here’s a key to my flat. If you accept, it will be “our” flat._

_Love,_

_SHM_

When she looks up, Scorpius is standing in the doorway to her office, looking at her expectantly. His hair is messier than usual. Whenever he’s nervous, he tends to run a hand through his hair again and again until he looks a bit like a cockatoo.

“Good morning, Auror Malfoy,” she grins. “What brings you to the Improper Use of Magic Office?”

“I have a question that I need answered, actually,” he responds, nodding pointedly at the open package on her desk.

“Let me check my schedule to see if I have time to discuss this right now,” she teases, winking at him as she flips open her day planner. “Hm… I have meetings all morning but it looks like there’s an opening later this afternoon at around three.”

“Rose…” Scorpius growls, looking adorably frustrated as he crosses the room, stopping to stand right in front of her. “I’ve been skulking around the office all morning waiting for you to get to work, and you don’t even show up until half past nine! Merlin, you’re going to give me a heart attack.”

She considers making him suffer for a bit longer, but Scorpius is standing so close and she can already feel her body leaning in towards his. Reaching up to wrap her arms around his neck, she presses a soft kiss to his cheek.

“Of course I accept, Scorp,” she laughs. “I love you, you silly git.”

“I love you too,” he says, before flicking his wand to lock her office door. When he places his hands firmly on Rose’s hips and pulls her in for a kiss, she briefly flashes to the first time she saw him on Platform 9 ¾, and how her father told her to stay away from him.

Rose smiles against Scorpius’ lips, thinks about how she’s never liked following rules anyway, and then proceeds to snog her boyfriend senseless.

_Fin._  
  



End file.
